Hours a day: what's your limit?

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Jon Nolan
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Hours a day: what's your limit?

Post by Jon Nolan » Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:17 am

just curious about y'alls experience with this kinda thing, and what loose or firm policies you've developed around it.

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Post by chris harris » Fri Sep 02, 2011 11:31 am

I'm genuinely productive and doing my best work for between 8 and 10 hours a day.

My day rate is based on a firm 10 hour max.

I only go over for my own projects or projects of friends. And, I almost always regret it.

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Post by Nick Sevilla » Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:38 pm

8 to10hours, no exceptions.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Brett Siler
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Post by Brett Siler » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:03 pm

8 to 10. Any more than that things just asking to get screwed up.

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Post by vvv » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:45 pm

6-8, unless I'm drinking.



So, usually 8-12, max. :twisted:
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joelpatterson
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Post by joelpatterson » Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:02 pm

The day rate is noon - midnight. Since I am consistently the only one who's well rested, I exploit those last two hours to moderate some of the goofier production decisions that happened earlier, in the "gleeful frenzy" hours.
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Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:36 am

mastering...8 tops, and 6 is more like it.

tracking...8 to 10.

editing/mixing...i can pretty easily put in 15 hour days. i love getting sucked into that stuff.

i find tracking sessions make me way more mentally tired than either mastering or mixing sessions do...

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Post by drumsound » Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:57 pm

I usually max out at 10 hours, but prefer 6-8.

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Ryan Silva
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Post by Ryan Silva » Sun Sep 04, 2011 4:58 am

8-10 hours is most common for me.

However I LOVE! The feeling of just not wanting too stop.
"Writing good songs is hard. recording is easy. "

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Post by kslight » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:50 am

Well I just did a 14 hour stretch of tracking ONLY because it's my friend's band and they were still productive. The MCI autolocatpr got frustrating after awhile with the buttons double clicking on the number pad, and the board got pretty warm, but just trying to get much recorded for them since I live 5 hours away.

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:52 am

It depends on the situation.
If I'm tracking I can and will work long hours. 12 to 14 hour days are not uncommon. As long as the performer is still productive I'll soldier through.
If I'm mixing I like to work in short bursts. 3-4 hours and then a few hours off. Once it starts to feel like I'm treading water it's time to pack it in.

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Post by jhharvest » Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:27 am

I don't think I can mix much more than six hours per day excluding breaks.

For recording / general studio work I can do long days. It's pretty much expected in TV, especially when shooting on location. Start eight in the morning, come back at midnight and take the expensive gear in.

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Post by TapeOpLarry » Sun Sep 04, 2011 12:56 pm

10 am to 8 pm has been my usual schedule lately. Leaves time for late dinners and a relationship. I did a session of 2 weeks of 12 hour days once. That was the last time I did that. Never again. Those last two hours were almost always useless.

One thing I tell people is "I need time to deal with Tape Op" which was something I never used to say. Now I'm honest and up front about it... No one complains about a productive 10 hour day though.
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nick_a
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Post by nick_a » Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:33 pm

yeah, 10 hours seems to be about the limit of what's good and productive.

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Post by alcoyot » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:08 pm

I'm not a pro. I'd imagine that tracking endurance over many hours would be very dependent on the proficiency of the musicians.

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